Sitting 30 feet away from the hole on the par-3 15th green, Collin Morikawa was tied at the top of the leaderboard. A birdie from that range seemed impossible for most; a par would have kept him at the top of the board. He took the risk and earned the reward, winning the point, claiming the lead, and capturing the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title. But did you know that he wasn’t even carrying his own putter in the bag?

Morikawa explained why the putter worked for him to Tiger Woods, “So this putter actually feels good because it swings. (It’s got) A little toe hang, but it’s a mallet. So it doesn’t open for me as much in the back. But then it closes.”

The two-time major winner was using the TaylorMade Spider Tour X, a mallet putter with a hosel that is fixed at the inside edge of the head near the sole. Considering the weight distribution, when swinging the club back, the toe stays in position instead of opening up like it would when using a blade club. However, when Morikawa swings it down, the club closes in. We can assume he already plays with a bit of an open face, which allows him to adjust the distribution precisely.

Woods could imagine the same situation as he reacted with a “I love that.”

With the new putter, Morikawa is able to control his strokes on the green much better. It’s uncertain which putter he used to have in his bag prior to this. The last documented putter in his kit was the TaylorMade TP Soto. It was a blade putter which, as Morikawa already mentioned, opened a little too much for his liking.

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That said, there is an interesting story behind how he retrieved his new putter.

How did Collin Morikawa get his new putter?

Collin Morikawa has been experimenting with his kit and caddie all through 2025. Until October last season, he had partnered with five different caddies. He has also changed a few clubs in his bag during that period.

However, the 29-year-old never thought of changing his putter. In April 2025, he was using the TaylorMade TP Soto blade putter. There were no reports of him changing the club over the next eight months. He only considered it after he tried Kurt Kitayama’s mallet days before the WM Phoenix Open 2026.

As Morikawa confessed to the media, “I think I play a lot with my feel, and I play a lot with my gut, and unfortunately, that changes a lot. This putter I actually stole from Kurt Kitayama two weeks ago; we were at home. It’s kind of settling nicely to where it allows it to flow a little bit, but it doesn’t have as much toe hang as the neck assumes just because of the mallet look. So it’s doing what I want. Hopefully, we can start them online tomorrow and see if they drop.”

Morikawa, Kitayama, and the latter’s brother, Daniel, were playing a friendly round of golf before their trip to TPC Scottsdale. That’s when he got the opportunity to play with his rival’s club. In the end, the 2-time major winner ended up beating the Japanese pro to win the $20 million Signature event and breaking his three-year winless streak.